Dear Subscriber,

September was a good month for retailers, all things considered, but October may have reversed that trend according to two new data points.

The first was from Limited Brands. The company raised its third-quarter earnings guidance, but cut its projection for October same-store sales. Zacks Equity Research discusses the revised outlook on our Analyst Blog.

Read: Limited's Mixed Outlook


The second, and more shocking, was the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index. The index fell to 47.7, driven down by the lowest Present Situation Index in 26 years. Simply put, consumers are increasingly worried about the labor market.

Dirk van Dijk explains what else the report said about the state of the consumer.

Read: Consumer Confidence Crumbles

Though neither report is comforting, it is important to realize that the economy is slowly improving. It will take time to for the U.S. to recover, but the recovery will continue to provide you with profitable trading opportunities.

Wishing you prosperity,
Charles Rotblut, CFA
Senior Market Analyst & Editor,
Profit From the Pros

Today's Top Stories: Wednesday- October 28, 2009

ZACKS RANK BUY STOCKS

• Aggressive Growth - Conceptus, Inc. (CPTS) reported third-quarter results that included a 29% increase in sales, to $34.2 million. Net income more than tripled to $6.2 million, up from $2.0 million in the same period last year. This equated to an adjusted EPS pf 24 cents, well above the 9 cents analysts were expecting. Read More...
   
• Growth & Income - Nordstrom, Inc. (JWN) has more than doubled the market's return over the past year. During the last 3 months, (JWN) saw even more bullish trading as shares nearly tripled the performance of the major averages. Analysts are also bullish, lifting the full-year Zacks Consensus Estimate from $1.57 per share to $1.65 over the past month. Read More...
   
• Momentum - Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) recently hit a new 52-week high after reporting better than expected third-quarter results. Earnings came in far better than expected at 64 cents, 57 cents ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company has beat in each of the last 3 quarters by an average of 644%. Read More...
   
• Value - Sabesp (SBS) analysts have been bullish about the third quarter and 2009. Third quarter Zacks Consensus Estimate is up 22 cents to $1.73 in the last 30 days. 2009 Zacks Consensus Estimate jumped 40 cents to $5.91 per share in the last month. Analysts expect year over year earnings growth in 2009 of 54.84% Read More...
   

Learn how to profit from our exclusive Zacks Rank stock-ranking system with free resources. Read More...

• Best of Funds: Top Income Equity Funds
  Looking to add more income to your portfolio? Checkout Federated Market Opportunity A (FMAAX), Forester Value Fund (FVALX) and UBS PACE Alternative Strategies A (PASIX). Read More...
  
• Best Of Fund Family
  Checkout Zacks Mutual Fund #1 Rank (Strong Buy) picks from the Matthews International family, 3 of which are Matthews Pacific Tiger (MAPTX), Matthews China (MCHFX) and Matthews Asian Technology (MATFX). Read More...
  

See all the great mutual fund resources.

• Bull Of The Day: Cooper Tire & Rubber (CTB)
  Full Zacks research report: Read More...
  
  
• Bear Of The Day: Citi Trends, Inc. (CTRN)
  Full Zacks research report: Read More...
  
  
• ZACKS INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: U.S. Airlines Industry
  Though almost all carriers are expected to post negative earnings in 2009, we favor Southwest Airlines (LUV) and JetBlue (JBLU) going forward. Read More...
  
  
• Guidance Disappointment at TriQuint (TQNT)
• Bemis (BMS) Posts Higher Profits
• W.R. Berkley (WRB) Inches Ahead

• Putting IRA Withdrawals Back Into Your Account
• 7 Red Flags for Home Buyers

EDUCATION: Aggressive Growth

Strong Growth Rates and Upward Stock Prices Read More...

PeopleAndPicks.com:

VIP "Eversar" selects star stocks with BUY calls in (EWBC), (HRS),(NLC) and (TEN). Read More...

• Aggressive Growth Stock Picks-Oct. 27, 2009
• Current Ratio
• Year End Predictions and Picks

SCREEN OF THE WEEK: Current Ratio

Kevin Matras shows how to use the Current Ratio as a financial health barometer. Highlighted stocks include (BLK), (CBT), (FIRE), (ISRG) and (VRX). Read More...

EARNINGS TRENDS: Best Earnings Season In Years

Companies in almost every industry are beating earnings expectations by a wide margin. Stocks covered are (AAPL), (MU), (SNDK), (DOW) and (FCX). Read More...

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Regards and Happy Investing,

Charles Rotblut, CFA
Senior Market Analyst
Zacks.com

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